Matthias
Hoelzer
Pat
Dowler
Duncan
revised and updated
22/08/1999
1.03.00
KDE
KControl
Window manager
KWM
windows
titlebar

# KDE Control Center - KWM

## Configuring Window Management Options

The Window Manager Options screen allows configuration of three distinct properties:

1. Appearance of Windows while being moved or resized.

2. Window Placement Policy.

3. Window Focus policy.

### Appearance of moving and resizing Windows

If Vertical maximization only by default is selected, windows will expand vertically to the full height of the screen if the maximization button is clicked, but their width will not change. (If this option is not selected, the width will also expand to fill the screen).

If Display content in moving windows is selected, the content of a moving window will move as the window is moved ("opaque" motion). If this option is not selected, only an empty "wireframe" representation of the window will be seen moving; the content of the window will remain at the original location until the motion is finished, at which time it will suddenly jump to its new location ("transparent" motion).

The Display content in resizing windows is similar to the previous option: if selected, a window will behave in an "opaque" manner while being resized; otherwise, it will behave in a "transparent" manner.

The Resize animation slider controls whether, and how fast, an animated representation of the window expands or contracts when a window maximization of minimization button is clicked. If the slider control is set to its leftmost postion, the size change will be instantaneous; otherwise, the slider controls the speed of the change.

### Window Placement Policy

Any of five different Window placement policies may be selected from the list box. These determine where a new window will be placed on the desktop when it is first opened.

- The "smart" placement policy implements an automatic scheme designed to produce minimal cluttering of the desktop. It acts independently on each desk. (Recommended).

- The "random" placement policy places newly-created windows at a random place on the desktop.

- The "cascade" placement acts somewhat similar to the "random" placement, but it is more consistent in the choice of the window position and keeps track of available "cascaded" positions for each desktop separately.

- The "manual" placement creates a window that moves with the mouse pointer until placed down by clicking a mouse button.

- The "interactive" placement policy is a cross between the "smart" and the "manual" policies: in this case the window placement is automatic if the windows can be placed without overlapping each other "too much", otherwise the placement policy becomes manual. The "allowed overlap" is set in the box that opens when this selection is made.

### Window Focus policy

The window that is "in focus" receives keyboard input and has the active titlebar appearance (usually colored instead of gray). The focus can be switched to another window with the keyboard (Alt+Tab) or the mouse. The Focus policy determines which window is in focus at a given time. When the focus policy follows the KDE style, the Alt+Tab key combination allows the focus to be transferred between windows on a graphical listing of the open windows.

- If click to focus (KDE style) is selected, the user must click the mouse inside a window to raise it to the front and give it the focus.

- If Focus follows mouse (KDE style) is selected, the focus switches to a window as soon as the pointer enters it. This makes focus switching without raising a window easier, but with the disadvantage that the position of the pointer is important even when the pointer isn't being used. The window remains in focus until the mouse pointer enters another window, to which focus then passes, so some window is always in focus.

- The Classic sloppy focus policy is similar to the "Focus follows mouse" policy, except that the action of the Alt+Tab key combination switches the focus directly between windows in the CDE desktop style, rather than in the graphical KDE style.

- The Classic focus follows mouse policy is a similar CDE-style policy, except that the window loses focus as soon as the mouse pointer leaves it. If the mouse pointer is not in any window, (for example, is on the desktop background or Panel), no window is in focus.

Selection of the Auto Raise feature serves to raise a window to the front (top) when it gets the focus. If a delay in milliseconds is set using the slider control, the window is only raised if the mouse is still inside the window after a period equal to this delay has elapsed since focus passed to it. (This does not apply when the "click to focus" policy is in force).

Selection of the Click Raise feature allows a window to be raised to the front by clicking the mouse anywhere inside it. If this feature is not selected, only a click on a window's titlebar will raise it to the front. (This does not apply when the "click to focus" policy is in force).

## Configuring the titlebar buttons

This dialog configures the placement of up to five buttons in the titlebars, with the listed button functions (Minimize, Maximize, Sticky, Close, and Menu) and corresponding button symbols. Each button can be placed on the left, on the right, or switched off (not placed in the tiitlebar).

The ``Sticky'' button allows a window to ``stick'', or remain in its place, if the user switches to another desktop.

The placement of buttons on each side of the titlebar follows a simple rule: buttons which are higher up in the list appear inside or near the middle of the window relative to buttons that are farther down on the list. This allows for most sensible button arrangements.

Since a maximum of three (3) buttons are allowed on each side of the titlebar, trying to place a fourth button on either side will cause the innermost one to be switched off.

The titlebar image shown on this screen previews how the buttons will be placed if the chosen placement is applied.

## Configuring the titlebar appearance and action

With this dialog, you can change the visual appearance of the titlebar and partially choose how it acts..

The Title Alignment selection sets the position of the window title in the titlebar. The choices are left, middle, or right (left-justified, centered, or right-justified)

There is a choice between four options for the titlebar Appearance:

- Shaded Vertically: fills the bar with a color gradient from top to bottom

- Shaded Horizontally: fills the bar with a color gradient from side to side

- Plain: fills the bar with a simple color

- Pixmap: allows you to select pixmaps which are tiled to fill the titlebar; in this case click on the Active pixmap and Inactive pixmap buttons to select different pixmaps for the titlebars of active and inactive windows. You may also choose not to extend the pixmap tiling under the text on the titlebar.

If the ``Active title has shaded frame'' box is checked, the titlebar of the active window has a shadowed, slightly three-dimensional look.

The Mouse action section lets you choose what happens when you doubleclick on the titlebar of a window with the left mouse button. Possible choices are:

- (Un)Maximize : double-click to maximize the window, double-click again to unmaximize.

- (Un)Shade: double-click to hide all parts of the window except the titlebar, double-click again to restore it (somewhat like the action of roller-blind window shades). This is the default behavior.

- Iconify: Window is shrunk to an entry on the Taskbar.

- (Un)Sticky: double-click to change between ``sticky'' and ``not sticky'' window attribute.

- Close: Window is closed.

If the window title is too long to be completely displayed on the window titlebar, the "Title animation" option allows the text to slide back and forth, so all of the title can be read. The slider bar controls the period of this motion; setting the period to 0 switches off this feature.

## Configuring Desktop Border Properties

The Active desktop borders feature allows you to change to an adjacent desktop by bringing the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen, and keeping it there for a specified time. The relative positions of the desktops are the same as the arrangement of buttons of the Panel that select them: for example, placing the pointer on the right side of the screen causes a jump to the next desktop to the right, unless the current desktop is the last one on the right, in which case the jump is back to the leftmost desktop. When active desktop borders are activated, you may also drag a window with you as you move between desktops.

Select Enable active desktop borders to turn this feature on.

If the feature is activated, you can select Move pointer towards center after switch to cause the pointer to jump directly to the center of the new desktop when such a change takes place.

To guard against unwanted jumps between desktops, you can set the Desktop switch delay which specifies how long (in seconds) the pointer must remain at the edge of the screen for this to be interpreted as a desktop switch command.

The Magic Borders settings allow a snap zone measured in pixels to be set. The edge of the screen is surrounded by the Border Snap Zone, and the edge of any window is surrounded by the Window Snap Zone. If you move the edge of a window into the snap zone of the edge of the screen or of another window, the window that is being moved will jump ("snap") so its edge is in direct contact with that edge.

## Configuring Mouse Button Actions

This screen allows you to configure the actions of clicks of the three mouse buttons while the pointer is over a window.

The Titlebar and frame settings allow configuration of the action of mouse button clicks while the pointer is over the titlebar of either Active windows (with focus) or Inactive windows (without focus). Choose the possible actions from those in the list boxes.

The Inactive inner window settings configure the action of mouse clicks when the pointer is over the interior of an inactive window.

The final Inner window, titlebar and frame settings configure the action of clicking the mouse buttons while the Alt key is held down, when the pointer is over any part of a window, whether active or not.

## Advanced Window Manager Settings

This screen allows you to configure various advanced Window Manager features.

In the Keyboard and Mouse settings:

- If Ctrl-Tab walks through desktops is selected, this key combination can be used to switch desktops.

- The Alt+Tab key combination is used to switch focus between different windows, making each window active in turn. If Alt-Tab is limited to current desktop is selected, only the open windows in the current desktop will be cycled through. Using the Alt-Tab mode list box, the action of the Alt-Tab key can be chosen to be in the graphical KDE style, or the "Classic" CDE style. The KDE-style Alt-Tab mode assures that using successive isolated Alt-Tab key combination will permit to switch between two alternate windows. Keeping the Alt key pressed and consecutively pressing Tab will allow to browse the list of available windows. The CDE-style Alt-Tab mode is different in the way isolated Alt-Tab presses act. Windows are always browsed successively.

- The Grab the Right Mouse Button setting is on by default. This option was introduced because a number of non-KDE X Window applications need to have complete control on the use of the right mouse button (for example Gimp). Deselect this option to allow non-KDE X Window applications to control the right mouse button.

The Filters settings offer the ability to allow windows with particular window titles or X class names to be configured differently from the default window configuration.

Windows with Titles or X class name that match a list item can have one of these special properties: they can be configured so they

- get only tiny decorations

- get no decorations

- never get focus

- start as Sticky

- are excluded from session management

To make an entry in the list, enter a Title or Class in the appropriate box, and click on the "+" button. Then click on it to highlight it, and select a special property.

To remove an entry, double-click on it to select it, then press the "-" button.